Advanced Nuclear Reactor Design

Jason Dreisbach: Chief Engineer, Atkins

Jason is a Technical Director for the recently established New Nuclear Technologies business in Atkins. He is responsible for growing new capabilities and business opportunities related to SMRs, AMRs and fusion projects. Over the last 4 years, Jason has supported AMR and fusion clients on project development in the UK, and globally. He is an experienced project director and technical leader and has directly supported clients from UK, Japan, Korea, China, USA and France. Jason is a licensed Professional Engineer (USA) with 20 years working in the fission and fusion industries in Generating Plants, New Build, and Research, including 10 years as a regulator for the US NRC.

Michael Armstrong: Head of Advanced Modular Reactors (RD&D), BEIS

Michael started his career as a Mechanical Engineer at GE Oil and Gas, developing Magnetic Flux Leakage In-Line Inspection tools to detect faults in gas lines. He then moved to the Dutch marine technology conglomerate Royal IHC. Here, he developed subsea and topside machinery for the oil and gas, telecoms, renewables, and deep-sea mining sectors. Michael made his way through the ranks at Royal IHC, first in technical leadership and then in project, operations, and business management. After delivering several multi-million-pound marine technology projects across Europe, Africa, and Asia; Michael decided to join government to use his technology development skillset to make an impact on Net-Zero.

Marc Chevalier: Technical and regulatory challenges for HTGR technology in the UK, EDF Energy

Paolo Ferroni: Fellow Engineer, Westinghouse

Dr. Paolo Ferroni is a Consulting Engineer at Westinghouse Electric Company and Technical Lead of the Westinghouse Lead Fast Reactor (LFR) project. In this role, Paolo oversees design and testing activities aimed at the development of an economically competitive and versatile Generation IV plant based on LFR technology. In doing so, he leverages expertise and lessons learned accumulated by Westinghouse over more than fifty years of nuclear power plant commercialization. With main expertise in reactor thermal hydraulics and fuel performance, after receiving his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Paolo joined Westinghouse where since then he has been involved in multiple development programs, both domestically and internationally, in the field of advanced reactors and encompassing both Light Water and non-Light Water Reactors.

David Powell: Vice President, European Sales, GE Hitachi

Matthew Bubis: Reactor Island Integration Manager, SMR, Rolls-Royce

Olivia Thompson: Head of Skills and Capability, National Nuclear Laboratory

Liv Thompson is the Head of Skills and Capability at the National Nuclear Laboratory. Within this role she oversees NNL’s Early Career, Learning and Development, Training and Equality Diversity and Inclusion teams. She represents NNL on the Nuclear Skills Strategy Board, where she leads initiatives supporting the high-level skills agenda. Liv is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Professional Development (CIPD) and the Nuclear Institute as well as being a Chartered Scientist.
Liv has a long-standing passion to support equality and fairness. She is a founding director of the non-for-profit organisation Women in Nuclear, which aims to promote gender equality and has been a supporter of the Racial Equality in Nuclear (REiN) programme, which was established in 2021.

Creshia Sian Jones: SMR Nuclear Safety Case and Licensing Lead, Rolls-Royce

A nuclear safety chemical engineer with experience in nuclear new build projects and extensive knowledge of nuclear regulations.

Nic Marrs: Group Leader of Programmes Business Unit, Frazer-Nash

Nic is a Group Leader within Frazer-Nash’s Programmes Business Unit. In this role, Nic oversees the delivery of projects into a range of projects for customers in the nuclear and defence industries. He has over 20 years experience in the nuclear industry, with experience of working on Magnox power stations, AGRs and PWRs and is also a chartered engineer.

Rachael Glaving: Commercial Director, EDF Energy

Ian Andrews: Chartered Engineer, U Battery

Ian Andrews is a chartered engineer and a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. He has 12 years’ experience in the nuclear enrichment industry, including design, construction, commissioning and projects for gas centrifuge plants in the Europe and USA. Ian is a key member of the AMR delivery team and joined the U-Battery In May 2021, as the lead engineer responsible for delivering the conceptual design of a number of the reactor systems.